


Looks Like a Bellamy, Acts Like a Bellamy

by iamsnowwhite



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dad!Bellamy, F/M, Single mom!Clarke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-04-13 01:52:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4503243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamsnowwhite/pseuds/iamsnowwhite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke wants a kid, nothing wrong with that. She is ready to do this on her own. But what happens when Bellamy gets way too drunk and possibly ruins everything?</p><p>or The Switch AU that no one asked for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was the fight to end all fights, and Clarke had no idea what brought it on.

She's pretty sure Bellamy hasn't been drinking, and she hasn't had a drop in months. Could that be what this is about? No. There's no way Bellamy could be mad about something like this. Because he was the one who started this.

Clarke wants a kid, nothing wrong with that. All her friends are in couples; Miller has Monty, Raven has Wick, and Octavia has Lincoln. Even Jasper has Maya. She thought she could have Bellamy, but that was only a dream. It seemed like no part of him wanted to stop bringing home a different girl every night. And no part of him wanted to bring home Clarke at all. She feels she would make a great mom, and a child would make her happy.

She has the sperm. Everything is set.

Then her friends decided to come over for one of their group hang outs in Clarke's apartment and Bellamy just had to show up early to yell at her.

Their friends start arriving and they act civil for them. Can't have mom and dad fighting now can we? (She really must do something about those nicknames. Thanks Jasper.)

She notices Bellamy drinking way too much beer, even for him. She wonders what's up with him, if something is wrong. And if she didn't see fire and murder in his eyes when he looked at her, she'd talk to him about it. He just needs to cool down, she supposes.

Soon they all leave and Octavia takes a very drunk Bellamy home after he stumbles out of the bathroom.

Now Clarke is alone. With sperm.

Hopefully this works.

\---

"Mom, where's my jersey!?" Makai screams from the top of the stairs.

"Did you check the dryer?" Clarke calls back.

She rolls her eyes after seeing her son's jersey on the stair railing, still dirty. He's ten now, she's teaching him responsibility by showing him how to do his own laundry. Clearly it never gets done.

He comes barreling down the stairs and she throws the shirt at him.

"Thanks momma," he says before running back to his room.

"You'd better hurry! We need to leave in," she checks the clock on the stove, "six minutes!"

Five minutes later, the curly haired boy is waiting by the car. She really needs to take him to get a haircut. She mentally adds that to her to do list along with getting milk and buying more dog food.

She watches him in the rear view mirror before she drives off and she can't help but think of him.

Makai is so much like Bellamy, and they've never even met. Bellamy left for a teaching position in Boston the day after their fight. He totally cut her off, stopped talking to her completely. She wishes she knew what she did to deserve that...

So maybe she picked a donor whose baby picture looked similar to Bellamy... Although sometimes she sees more of her old friend in him than herself.

Makai and Bellamy both love soccer. Her son practically lives for practices, Bellamy was the same way. Makai has those same freckles dusting his face, just like Bellamy. She can't remember if the donor had freckles... But she doesn't think so. The hair is a dead giveaway. Octavia jokes all the time that Bellamy somehow fathered the child.

The only thing that came from Clarke is his striking green eyes. Her son sure got the best of the recessive genes. Clarke sometimes wishes to trade in her blue eyes for green ones like Makai.

Clarke has been on a few dates since Makai was born, but nothing ever panned out. She knows why. She doesn't want to date anyone. It's only Bellamy. It's always been Bellamy. Sure she hasn't seen him in ten years, but she still loves him. She knows Bellamy has probably settled down by now, people usually do that in their thirties. She wonders if he's married, if he has kids of his own...

After Makai's soccer game, she takes him home to change before they head over to Octavia and Lincoln's for dinner.

It figures Octavia would get pregnant when Clarke was only four months along, they did everything together. Since elementary school they've been that way. Octavia's daughter is named Ellie and she is Makai's very best friend. Those two were friends as soon as Clarke took Makai to meet Ellie when he was three months old.

"Whose car is that?" Makai asks after seeing a red truck in Octavia's driveway.

"I'm not sure, Bud," she answers. "Guess we'll find out."

They get out of the car and knock on the front door. After hearing some shuffling, they're greeted by a smiling Octavia. Clarke knows this smile. It's her 'I have a plan in the works' smile.

"Who's at the door," they hear from inside as soon Octavia opens it. Clarke's heart sinks, it's probably in her feet now. She knows that voice. Knows it well. It's the voice that told her to go slower when he taught her to drive. The voice that asked her to his senior prom, but in a totally platonic way he'd insisted. That was the voice that yelled at her like he could not have been more angry in that moment.

"Octavia what did you do?" Clarke asks. She feels like she could cry. She doesn't want to see him, she's not ready. Especially not in an ambush situation such as this. What if he's still mad for some reason? It doesn't seem like he knows she's here either...

This is a disaster.

Just then, Ellie runs to the door and grabs Makai's hand. "Come look at the new game my dad got me," she says as they run through the house. Those two love playing video games together.

Octavia steps aside to let Clarke in and she goes to the kitchen to set down the food she brought.

She knows he'll be in there, she just knows it. And that makes her nervous. Clarke Griffin does not get nervous...

Her steps are slow as she makes her way to the kitchen, trying to delay this reunion as long as possible.

"Clarke?" he says, sounding very surprised.

"Hi," she replies, setting the food on the counter.

"Octavia didn't tell me you were coming..."

"Well, Bellamy, she didn't really tell me you'd be here either..." She has no idea why she is suddenly angry. Is it because he left? And then decided to come back without so much as a phone call? Ok so she does know why she's mad.

Their awkward moment is interrupted by Octavia skipping into the room.

"Lincoln will be home soon to start dinner. Should we all go sit in the living room?"

Clarke nods and leads the way, sitting on one of the plush couches and hoping Bellamy doesn't sit anywhere near her.

They're chatting (mostly lead by Octavia seeing as Clarke and Bellamy are still very awkward) when Ellie and Makai burst into the room, breathing heavily. They obviously raced each other there.

"Mom when is dinner gonna be ready?" Ellie asks.

"Yeah we're hungry," Makai chimes in.

"As soon as your dad gets home," Octavia answers.

They both seem satisfied with that answer and run off to go back to their game.

"Who was that?" Bellamy asks, talking about Makai.

"My son," Clarke says. "He should probably come introduce himself. Makai! Come here please!"

Moments later, the boy stands before his mom, "Am I in trouble?"

Clarke laughs, "No, Kai you're not. I just wanted you to meet someone. This is Bellamy."

"Hi Bellamy," Makai says, waving at him.

Bellamy narrows his eyes and seems to study the boy, "Hey Makai, nice to meet you."

"Are you my mom's friend?" Makai asks.

"Yeah, I am. I'm Octavia's brother."

The recognition lights up Makai's face, "Oh, the one who moved to Boston."

Bellamy nods, finally smiling.

"You can go play now," Clarke tells her son.

He smiles before running back to find Ellie.

"Your son, huh?" Bellamy says quietly, looking at Clarke with an expression she could only call hopeful.

"Yeah. That's him."

Lincoln then gets home and goes out back to start up the grill, Bellamy goes with him.

Clarke can't help but notice how weird Bellamy was acting when Makai was in the room...

*****

"That's my son. That's my son. That's my son," Bellamy repeats as he washes his face with cold water. He snuck away from the dinner table about halfway through the meal.

How can this be happening?

That kid is exactly like Bellamy. He won't shut up about his soccer team, loves playing video games, and can be very sarcastic. All things that Bellamy did as a child. Not only is he just like Bellamy, Makai also looks just like him. The curly hair, the tan skin, even the little freckles...

How can this be happening?

Suddenly, a mess of blurry and drunken images flash through his mind. He remembers their fight, how mad he had been. Clarke told him she wanted to have a kid... A kid! By herself. She couldn't have known Bellamy's feelings, how _he_ wanted to have a kid with her, but he got mad. He got mad that she probably didn't feel the same way...

It was stupid and he only did it because his love for her was so strong. God does he love her...

He left to protect himself. It would hard watching Clarke raise some other man's kid. He knows that's dumb, but it's how he felt.

He knew why Clarke was doing this. She felt alone in a group full of couples. Little did she know Bellamy was more than willing to change that for her.

He vaguely remembers eating dinner with his friends, drinking a lot of beers, and then it's only bits and pieces.

Something about Clarke's bathroom... He remembers knocking over some cup and the feeling of panic.

Bellamy's head snaps up and he looks at himself in the mirror.

 _No,_ he thinks, _I did not switch my sperm with the sperm in Clarke's bathroom..._

But he totally did.

Holy shit he has a kid. A living, breathing person that he brought into this by drinking too much beer and masterbating. Does Clarke know? How could she... She must've assumed it was the one from the sperm bank...

After a few more minutes of him freaking out, he exits the bathroom and rejoins everyone else at the dinner table.

"You ok, Bel?" Octavia asks as he sits down beside her.

"I'm fine," he bites back. He picks up his fork and pushes his steak around on his plate. Staring down at the table, he forces himself not to look at anyone. He knows that if he does, his emotions will be written on his face like a book.

He hears Clarke going on about some new regulations from her job- apparently she teaches art at the high school in town- and has Octavia crying with laughter. Lincoln asks her some questions and they all seem to be having a good time around him.

"Bel, how's the apartment search going?" Octavia asks, trying to pull him into the conversation.

He signs before putting on a good face, "It's going well, I guess. Shouldn't take much longer to find a place."

"So you're moving back here?" Clarke asks from the other end of the table.

He forces himself to remain calm as he meets her gaze. She has fire in her eyes.

"I am. I missed everyone."

"Really?" she asks in disbelief.

He nods, "Yeah. I did. It's been nice seeing everyone again."

Clarke's face deflates, pain and hurt taking over the anger that he knew was there, "How long have you been in town?"

"Two weeks," Bellamy responds, wondering why she's hurt all of a sudden.

"Oh," she says, "That's great."

Bellamy leans forward in his seat, searching Clarke's face for some kind of answer. He used to know her so well, he hopes he still does.

Clarke looks down to her lap before glancing over to the smaller table in the kitchen where the kids sit. Bellamy knows the look on her face, she's looking for an escape route.

Not wanting to hurt her anymore, he stands from the table. He makes some excuse about having forgotten to do something for work and leaves the house after giving Octavia a hug.

Once he gets into his truck, he slams his fists into the steering wheel. That could have gone a hell of a lot better. With a sigh, he starts his truck and starts backing out of the driveway.

"Bellamy!" He hears. He puts his foot on the brake before shifting into park. Clarke is standing in the driveway, hands on her hips. She looks less angry now and more inquisitive. He rolls down the window and sticks his head out.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know something?" she asks, standing her ground though he doesn't know why she feels she needs to.

Bellamy turns off his truck and steps out to stand in front of Clarke. "Do I know what, Princess?"

"Don't you call me that," she says as her voice cracks. More than anything he wants to give her a hug, because when her voice cracks it means she's about to cry. "You lost the right to call me that when she didn't call me for two weeks. Two weeks Bellamy!"

"You're mad because I didn't call you as soon as I got back?" Okay now he is really confused.

"No, Bellamy! I'm mad because you screamed at me. You yelled and raised your voice to show what a big strong guy you were, then you just left. You didn't tell me, you didn't call. You didn't even give us a chance to make up like we always do," she's yelling now. "Ten years go by! Ten freaking years!" He tries to take a step closer to her and place his hand on her arm, but she takes a step back. "Was it something I did?"

"Clarke-"

"You know what, I don't need to know yet. Just tell me Bellamy, do you know something about Makai?"

Bellamy feels his stomach doing flips. So Clarke apparently doesn't know what he did, and she's about to find out.

He reaches a hand up to run the back of his neck, "I do, yeah."

"I'm his mother Bellamy, you have to tell me the truth. Are you his father?"

Bellamy doesn't know this because he can't see himself, but he's pretty sure he's gone pale. "I think so."

Clarke drops to her knees before sitting on the ground, after a moment, Bellamy sits beside her on the concrete.

"How?" she asks, quietly.

"I was drunk. Really drunk. And the cup slipped... I did the first thing I could think to do and filled it up again."

Clarke laughs, "That was your first thought? To masterbate?"

"I mean, when in doubt..." he replies, causing her to laugh again. In ten years he never would have guessed how much he missed that sound.

"We really need to catch up, talk about this. Can you come over on Saturday? I'll make us some dinner," Clarke offers.

"You can cook?" He's shocked.

"I had to learn so my child didn't starve."

"I'll be there," Bellamy answers.

"We should probably go back in there before things get too awkward."

He stands and helps her to her feet, "Agreed."

He catches her wrist as she turns to walk inside, "Clarke I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. You gave me the greatest gift I've ever gotten."

*****

Clarke's mind is racing as she drives home after dinner. Makai is going on about what he is going to do with his friend at their sleepover on Saturday and Clarke feels bad about not paying attention to him.

But she just got a very big suspicion confirmed; Bellamy is the father of her child. This could certainly complicate things. Clarke has always told Makai the truth. Even from a young age, she told him that he was super special because instead of having a dad, he had all his aunts and uncles to hang out with. Jasper loves Makai, and so does Raven. This could all be very confusing to Makai if they decide to tell him. They have to tell him, right? Bellamy has a right to this kid too. Even if he drunkenly gave her his sperm without knowing it would be used to conceive her first kid, Makai is still his son.

As soon as they walk in the front door, Buck comes running towards them. Buck is their siberian husky. He was a present to Makai when he turned three and was really into animals. Back then he pronounced the dog's name more like 'fuck' and Clarke thought it was the funniest thing.

"Why don't you take him out back to play," Clarke says, patting Makai on the back.

He nods happily before running to the backyard followed closely by Buck.

Clarke slumps down into one of the chairs at the kitchen table before burying her face in her hands.

What was she thinking earlier? Inviting Bellamy over? Could she handle that?

She did want to hear what he has to stay, and she does want him to apologize. But she also wants to have hot hot sex with him right there on the kitchen floor. Needless to say she's a little nervous for him to come over.

But she has things to do other than worry about dinner. She puts Makai to bed at a reasonable hour with minimal stalling (she must say that is quite the accomplishment), she cleans the first floor of the house because Makai's things are everywhere, and she still has time to watch some tv before she falls asleep on the couch.

Friday is the third Friday of the month, meaning it was mother-son day for Clarke and Makai. This month he decided to go to the Boondocks. Clarke knows he just wants to ride the go karts, but she is also prepared to get extremely wet if he requests to go on the water boats. She gives Makai a fake hurt expression when she finds out there is laser tag at the Boondocks. Makai had told her that wearing her white t-shirt was a great idea. She was going to get him do this in the form of beating him in said laser tag.

The sun beats down on them as they head outside for mini golf. Clarke realizes another similarity between her son and his father. As she watches him get three holes in one on a row, she notices how competitive he is. Of course he's competitive with his soccer team, but now she realizes that he is competitive with everything else as well.

She was right about the water boats. Somehow her son managed to get all the other kids on the ride to aim their water guns at her. It felt good because the water was so cold, and it was so ungodly hot outside. But by the time they headed over to the go karts, her clothes were soaking wet, and her hair was dripping water down her back. Makai was barely wet, so Clarke decided it was as good a time as any to give him a big hug.

They drive home later after stopping to get some dinner from a drive thru, and they watch a movie once they get back to their house.

Clarke doesn't understand how some parents dread summer vacation. She loves spending time with her son, he is after all the only man in her life. Or he used to be... She doesn't know what to call Bellamy at the moment. But she and Jason both dread going back to school in the fall.

The next morning, Clarke make sure Makai is all packed and ready for his sleepover before driving him to his friends house.

\---

She's just putting the chicken in net oven when the doorbell rings. The clock on the oven says it's not quite seven. Since when is Bellamy on time for anything...

Walking to the front door, she takes a deep breath.

"Hey, come on in," she tells him as she steps aside to let him in.

"This is so weird..."

"Why?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Your house is so clean... I would never expect that from you," he says with a laugh.

Clarke smiles, feeling some tension leave as she does so, "Well if I didn't clean, no one would. Makai is even messier than I used to be."

They walk into the kitchen and Bellamy sits at a bar stool behind the island while Clarke gets them both drinks.

"Clarke I am sorry. For not calling. I just didn't think you'd want to talk to me."

"I did Bellamy. I'm pissed. You just left..."

He sighs, "I owe you the truth." He places his hand on top of hers. "I left because I'm in love with you. I was back then and I am now. I couldn't handle you having a baby with someone who wasn't me, which now sounds kind of ridiculous I know because he is mine. But it hurt too much, so I did the cowardly thing and left."

Clarke searches Bellamy's face, in complete disbelief over his words.

"You're in love with me?" she asks.

He nods, "Yep... Have been since that day at Water World when Octavia ditched us and we spent the whole day together."

"That was eighteen years ago," she points out. She removes her hand from underneath his and turns to check on the chicken. "Well that's good."

"It is?" he asks, cocking his head to the side.

"Yep. Because I'm in love with you too," she says.

"You are?"

She turns to face him and nods, "Since Water World."

Bellamy smiles, standing to be in front of her and before Clarke knows what happened he's kissing her. This isn't like the kiss they shared when they were drunk in college, or the one they shared during that game of spin the bottle in high school. This kiss is real.

They're interrupted by the timer on the microwave telling them the chicken is done.

Clarke laughs as she rests her forehead against Bellamy's.

"Can't really let that burn," she says as she tries to pull away from his embrace. He only holds her tighter. "Come on we gotta eat."

He groans, "Fine." He lets her go and she walks over to the oven to get the food out. She then sets it on the stove so it can cool while she gets the plates.

She tells Bellamy to set the table and she brings all the food over as they sit down to eat.

"We can't tell Makai," Clarke tells him. "Not yet anyways."

"I agree, it could be confusing to him. And I don't want him to see me as the dad who left."

"I don't want that either. And I don't want him knowing about us... Whatever we are."

He smirks, "I've finally got you and I can't even tell anyone?"

"You haven't 'got me', Bel." His smile grows when she says his nickname.

"Alright, I've finally kissed you and I can't tell anyone about it. Is that better?"

"Much."

They finish their dinner while catching up on the ten years they were apart. Clarke shows Bellamy pictures of Makai when he was a baby, and some from recently as well. She tells him about Makai's love for soccer and his knack for practical jokes. He tells her about his time in Boston and how much he missed being home.

It's nice to be with Bellamy again, Clarke thinks. She knew she missed him while he was gone, but she didn't expect it to be this nice when he came back. All her nerves and frustration are gone now. In its place is calm and happiness.

They're washing the bowls they used for their ice cream when Bellamy kisses her again.

"No, we have to finish cleaning up," she says after pulling away.

"Are you kidding me? I've waited 18 years to do this," he says, laughing.

"Then you can wait a little longer. I just cleaned this house and I will not leave it messy."

Bellamy leans against the counter and groans. If Clarke didn't see the resemblance before, she definitely would have seen it now. Makai looks just like Bellamy does now when he whines. Of course, Makai is usually whining because Clarke told him he can't have anymore dessert before bed... And Bellamy is whining about something completely different...

As soon as she dries her hands and puts the bowls back into the cupboard, he crashes his lips upon hers.

Clarke drags him upstairs and he makes a comment about how messy her room is. "It's the only room that's all mine," she argues. If you asked Clarke how she thought this dinner would go, she would tell you that she and Bellamy having sex by the end was not what she expected. What she wanted? Yes. But certainly not what she thought would happen.

It feels like a gargantuan weight has been lifted off her shoulders. All this time she thought Bellamy left because of the fight, or because of something she did. He's reasoning is a little weird to her, but it makes sense if you know Bellamy. He acts before he thinks, and leaving seemed like a good idea. So he did it. He left because he loved her and it hurt too much to stay. It was great to talk to him today like nothing happened. He really is one of her best friends.

*****

Clarke's alarm goes off at eleven the next day and it's been a long time since Bellamy has slept in that late.

He lifts his head to find Clarke lying practically on top of him. Her head is on his shoulder, her arm is across his chest, and her leg is draped over his.

He reaches over to turn off the alarm on her phone before he gently nudged her awake.

They've had plenty of 'sleepovers' in their time as friends. She and Octavia had probably hundreds since elementary school and they always wanted to hang out with big brother Bellamy. Then in college, they'd get drunk and crash in each other's rooms, and other times it would just be too late to go home. Every time Bellamy couldn't help but love Clarke's adorable sleepy face. She is not a morning person, and he likes her grumpy attitude a little too much.

However, today is different. He feels something different as she sleepily smiles up at him. Something more.

"Morning," he says, smiling at her.

She rests her head back on his chest, "Good morning."

"What's your plan for the day?" he asks her.

"I have to pick up Makai at noon, and then I'm taking him to lunch," she explains. "You're welcome to come."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. He knows we're friends. It will be no big deal," Clarke says as she gets out of the bed. She walks towards the bathroom before turning back to Bellamy. "You coming?"

With a smirk on his face, Bellamy whips the blankets off his body and follows Clarke to the shower.

\---

Yes, Bellamy is nervous. Seeing as he flipped out at dinner the other night when he met Makai, he needs to keep his cool today.

He understands where Clarke is coming from when she said they shouldn't tell Makai yet. How do you explain artificial insemination to a 10 year old? But on the other hand, he's just realized he has a son. He wants to do everything for him, wants to give everything to him. He knows that eventually they'll tell Makai everything, but for now it's a little hard.

He and Clarke get into her car and drive to the house of Makai's friend to pick him up.

Once they get there, she gets out to go get him while Bellamy stays in the car. He's busying himself on his phone when he hears the back door open and Makai slides into his seat.

"Hi Bellamy," he says politely.

"Hey kiddo," Bellamy replies before Clarke gets back into the driver's seat.

"So where are we going to lunch?" she asks, looking in the rear view mirror.

"Red Lobster!" the ten year old exclaims, retrieving a DS from his duffle bag.

"Really Kai? Red Lobster?" Clarke says, turning in her seat to face her son.

"Yep. Tyler had cruddy food at his house. I need some good food before I die mom. You don't want me to die, do you?"

"No, we don't want that... Red Lobster it is then. But we have to go to the one by the mall so I can go shopping afterwards. Or else I might die. You wouldn't want that, right?"

"Bellamy can watch me if you die," he says without looking up from his game.

"Did you even ask him?"

"You would, wouldn't you Bellamy?" Makai asks.

Bellamy shakes his head, "I don't know... I might die too if your mom doesn't get to go shopping. She'll probably kill me."

Clarke tries and fails to cover up her laughter.

"Fine," Makai sighs, "we can go to the mall..."

It is amazing to watch Clarke interact with Makai. She really is the great mom he knew she would be.

They drive to the restaurant while Makai plays them some of the music from his iPod. When they get there, he exclaims something about wanting to see the lobster tank and darts through the parking lot and into the restaurant. He only slows slightly when Clarke tells him to watch for cars.

She slips her fingers through Bellamy's and gives him a smile. "You don't have to be nervous," she tells him, squeezing his hand. "You're doing great."

"Thanks." He places a kiss to the top of her head.

They walk into the restaurant and are escorted to their table. Clarke dropped Bellamy's hand before they walked in so his arms are by his sides somewhat awkwardly. He slides into the booth next to Clarke and she smiles.

When their waitress comes back a few minutes later with their drinks, Makai gives Clarke a funny look.

"No offense, but why is Bellamy with you?" he asks.

Without missing a beat, Clarke answers, "We were hanging out. He's been gone for so long I wanted to catch up with him. You've heard Auntie Tavia talk about him, haven't you?"

"He calls my sister Auntie Tavia?" Bellamy whispers, causing Clarke to laugh.

"He does."

"Yeah mom. I've seen pictures of him. And you two together. Like that one on Auntie Tavia's fireplace of all three of you in high school."

"Which picture?" Bellamy asks, kind of scared it could be one where he looks terrible. That's something O would do, display a horrible picture of him as a joke.

"The one of us at your senior prom," Clarke explains. "You know Kai, that night is when Auntie Tavia met Uncle Lincoln."

"Don't remind me..." Bellamy sighs.

"You don't like Uncle Lincoln?" Makai asks.

"No I like him, but back then I didn't."

Lincoln was the DJ at prom, three years older than Bellamy. The thought of his 16 year old sister made him see red, but Clarke told him that he needed to 'let Octavia off her leash' and live a little. So he chilled out about it and realized how awesome Lincoln is.

"Why didn't you like him?" Makai asks.

"I didn't like that he was older than my sister," Bellamy explains simply.

"How old is he?" Makai looks disgusted.

"A year older than me," Bellamy replies.

"So he's like 90?!"

"I am not 89, Makai. I am only two years older than your mom."

"Well she's like 70."

"Hey! You know very well I am not a day over 32," Clarke protests as she sips her Dr. Pepper.

Bellamy looks at her and raises his eyebrows as if to say 'oh really?". He knows she's 36.

Before Bellamy can come up with something clever to say, their waitress comes back to take their orders. No surprise to Clarke, Makai orders a pound of crab. The kid could eat five pound if you let him.

They get their food and Makai starts digging into his meal. Clarke has to remind him that he cannot drink the butter sauce.

When he goes to the bathroom, Bellamy turns to Clarke.

"You know for the stress you put on him being exactly like me, he has your sense of humor," he tells her.

"You think?"

"Yeah. I mean he has my amazingly good looks but-" Clarke pushes him while laughing and he places a quick kiss to her lips. "O really has that picture of us at prom on her mantel?"

"Yeah. That day was fun, why wouldn't she want to remember it?"

"That's true... But that was before I realized my feelings for you."

"Yeah... At that point I was still trying to convince myself that you were the guy who put gum in my hair when I was eight, I couldn't like you," she says and he laughs.

"Then two years later, I come home from college, you see me in my swim trunks, and you were a goner."

"That's it," she says sarcastically.

*****

After they finish lunch, they head to the mall and Clarke picks up a few things before they start their drive home.

Bellamy stays for dinner that night before heading back to his hotel.

In the weeks that follow, Bellamy spends a lot of time with Clarke and Makai. He gets an apartment close to their house purely by luck. Clarke is baffled by the way Bellamy connects with Makai. They play video games together, and Makai almost always wins. They'll play soccer in the backyard while she cooks dinner, and Bellamy even teaches Makai to play football.

Clarke and Bellamy haven't told any of their friends about their relationship. They don't want them to have to lie to Makai. So their relationship is full of secret dates and covert sleepovers while a certain ten year old is at a friend's house.

By the time school starts again; Makai is going into the fifth grade, Clarke has a new course to add on to her job description, and Bellamy is starting his new job at the community college.

One day, Clarke has three meetings after school and asks Bellamy to pick Makai up and take him back to the house. Yeah, Clarke didn't protest as hard as she could have about the meetings... She wanted Bellamy to have some alone time with his son.

"Are you dating my mom?" Makai asks as Bellamy drives the home.

"Why would you think that?" Bellamy replies quickly, his heart racing.

"Cause she never has friends who are guys. Except for Uncle Jasper and Uncle Monty, but Monty is gay and Jasper has a fiancé."

Bellamy laughs, "Why don't you ask your mom that question."

"I did. She wouldn't answer me."

"Well how would you feel if I was dating your mom?" Bellamy asks, trying not to say something Clarke wouldn't want him to.

"That would be awesome! You're way cooler than any other guy she could bring home..."

"Is that so?" Bellamy says as they pull into the driveway.

"Yeah," Makai says simply.

They head inside and both grab a quick snack. Bellamy gives Makai a wink as he scoops their ice cream into bowls, it is a snack Clarke usually says is for after dinner. "I won't tell if you won't," Bellamy adds and Makai smiles devilishly.

After making sure Makai actually doesn't have any homework (he tends to lie about this), they head into the living room to watch some tv.

Once their show ends, they walk into the kitchen to make dinner because Clarke said pizza could not be eaten for dinner three nights in a row...

"You know how to cook?" Makai asks, raising an eyebrow. He hops up onto the counter opposite the stove and watches Bellamy get out everything they'll need.

Bellamy nods, "Yep. If I didn't, my sister and I would have starved."

Makai's eyes go wide as he stares at Bellamy.

"Your momma didn't cook for you?"

"My mom worked a lot. Like your mom is doing now," Bellamy explains.

"Did you have any other family?" Makai asks, suddenly becoming very serious.

"No," Bellamy shakes his head. "Just me and my sister. My mom didn't have any brothers or sisters and my grandparents died before I was born."

"What about your dad?"

_Uh oh, here it comes..._

"I didn't know my dad," Bellamy tells him.

"Neither do I," Makai replies with a sigh. His shoulders slump over and it breaks Bellamy's heart. "All I have is a seed guy."

"A seed guy?" Clarke never did explain what exactly she told Makai about his father.

"Yeah, the guy who gave my momma his seed so she could plant me in her stomach. You know, cause she didn't have a husband."

"Oh," is all Bellamy says. He fills a pot with water and puts it on the stove to boil. Then he turns to face Makai and leans against the counter.

"I wish I had a dad. Tyler has a dad, he takes him hunting and plays video games with him sometimes. And Ellie has a dad too, Uncle Lincoln takes her camping."

"I do that stuff with you," Bellamy points out, feeling like his insides are being ripped apart. He wishes more than anything he could just tell his son everything. But Clarke is the one with the power here, so he knows the right thing to do is talk to her.

"Yeah but you're just Bellamy."

"Well Just Bellamy could take you camping if you wanted. But no hunting, I'm not gonna kill an animal."

"You'd really take me?!" the boy's face lights up.

"Of course. We'd just have to ask your mom."

"I hope she says yes!"

"Oh I have a feeling she will. Now come on, help me with dinner."

Makai helps Bellamy grate some cheese and they add it to the noodles once they're cooked along with some butter and milk.

Once the mac and cheese is done, they pop it in the oven.

\---

Clarke comes home much later than she anticipated. She had to stop by Raven's to help her with something. She's pleasantly surprised when she arrives at the house to find that Bellamy had already out Makai to bed. He tells her there is some food in the fridge for her and she settles into the couch with him after putting it in the microwave.

"Clarke," Bellamy says. "We need to talk."

"Sounds serious..."

"Well it is. We need to tell Makai. First of all, he asked me if we were dating today. Then he talked about how sad he was to not have a dad. Clarke he needs this."

Something changes in Clarke's expression. Her face hardens into a look of anger. "Don't tell me what he needs. You've known him for what? A few months? I gave birth to him, I raised him by myself-

"Clarke-

"No! He's not ready Bellamy! It will just confuse him!"

"All he wants is someone to take him camping and play video games with him, I already do that. That's what he thinks a dad does, Princess. He's smarter than you're giving him credit for."

"You don't even know him. He is _my_ son. You weren't supposed to be a part of this, you're lucky I'm letting you see him at all after what you did."

Bellamy has been trying to stay calm, but that made him snap. "Oh yeah? What exactly did I don't?"

"You switched the sperm, Bellamy! Do you know how irresponsible that was?! I signed up for an unattached sort of deal. You're making me feel like I can't do this on my own and I know I can," she tells him, standing from the couch. Bellamy stands too.

"I never said that! You're putting words into my mouth! You're a great mom, I just want my chance to be a great dad and do right by Makai."

She sighs, "Well you don't get that chance anymore. Get out."

"Excuse me?" Bellamy asks in disbelief.

"You heard me. Get out. I don't want you around Makai anymore."

Bellamy scoffs, she cannot be serious right now? Her face is calm with anger, a look he has seen too many times on the tiny blonde. He just shakes his head and walks out the door.

She has no right to do that to him. All he wanted was to give his son what he wanted and she's making him out to be the bad guy? Yes, she did raise him alone until this point, but Bellamy is here now. He wants to offer his help.

And she's not willing to take it. 


	2. Chapter 2

 

Bellamy's life has taken on a very boring and monotonous quality. He went from home, to work, then back again. Sometime he would make the exciting trip to the grocery store, but other than that...

He hasn't seen Makai or Clarke in three weeks and it isn't for a lack of him trying. Clarke never answered his calls or replied to his texts. He never asked Octavia about her, he didn't want her in the middle of this. In fact, he hasn't talked to Octavia in all this time either. He's been alone.

When he's at work, he puts on his professional facade and doesn't let it show that he's sad and heading towards depressed.

All he wants to do is see his son. Is that too much to ask?

Tonight he sits on the old and over stuffed couch in his living room with a bottle of scotch beside him and a glass in his hand. He's sworn off beer ever since he realized what he did ten years ago.

The show on tv is boring and he's uninterested. He leans his head back to rest against the back of the couch and sighs.

This is so not what he pictures when he thought about moving back home.

*****

"Makai Alexander! We are going to be late for school, hurry up!" Clarke yells up the stairs. She hears him running around trying to get ready, but he doesn't respond. He hardly talks to her anymore. It's just asking when dinner is and saying goodnight, sometimes.

She doesn't know what she's doing wrong. Okay she actually does, but she's not letting Bellamy see him any time soon.

Who does Bellamy think he is? Sure he's Makai's father, but only by some drunken accident. _She_ raised him. _She_ took care of him when he was a baby and wouldn't stop crying. _She_ was the one to sooth his fevers and take care of him when he was sick. It was all her. Bellamy plays with Makai for a while and thinks he knows how to be a parent. In his defense, she never really gave him the chance to learn. But he was the one who was quick to assume he knew what was best for their son.

Makai was doing just fine before Bellamy came. He knew his birth story, and knew he wasn't like the other kids who knew their dads. Sure, he got teased sometimes, but from what Clarke understood he was tough in all those times and didn't let it get to him. Then again, he is a lot like Bellamy... And Bellamy tends to hold things in until he explodes...

Makai finally comes downstairs and heads straight for the garage. He gets into the car before Clarke can even get to it.

"You ready for school today?" she asks as she back out of the garage. She looks in the rear view mirror to see him staring out the window. He offers her a small nod.

The ride to his school is silent. Usually, Makai would play some music from his iPod and they would get in their 'pre-school jam session' as he liked to call it.

"Aunt Raven is picking you up from school today. You're going back to her apartment for a little bit, okay?" Clarke says, hoping he'll respond.

He doesn't.

With a sigh, she pulls into the drop off lane at Makai's school and puts the car in park.

"Have a good day," she smiles as she turns to face him.

The corner of his mouth twitches up in what she thinks is a smile and then he's getting out of the car. She wonders why his backpack is so full. What could a fifth grader need that much stuff for?

He turns to wave at her before he walks into the school. She can feel her heart breaking when he doesn't smile, doesn't even give her a 'bye momma'.

So she's a little hard on her students that day. But a couple of them did manage to spill an entire bottle of India ink onto the floor and their clothes. That will not come out. Then in her second period class, she wrote three referrals because her students decided to sword fight with the exacto knives. The caps were still on, but her fuse is short and there are no second chances today. Third period she has no class, but a few of her more dedicated students come in with their lunches to work on their pieces. It's calm and quiet and they're some of her favorite students. Fourth period is her art history class, and most of the students really want to be there, she knows of at least three who are serious when they say they want to be curators. However, there is two students who are only in the class because they forgot to sign up for anything else and we're stuck in the least populated class.

The class ends before she can yell at both of them for not even paying a lick of attention.

When the last bell rings, her students all leave and she stands behind her desk to make a call before her meetings. One of her student's pieces have been chosen to go on to the district art show, and she wants to call her parents to let them know of this huge accomplishment.

Around 3:15 she's in a meeting, talking to the other art teachers about the art history curriculum (because it's a new class and none of them know what they're doing) when her phone starts to ring. When she sees that it's Raven, she excuses herself to answer it.

"Hey Rae, is everything ok?" she asks quickly, worst case scenarios running through her head.

"Makai never came out of the school. After ten minutes I went inside to look for him, and his teacher said he never came back from recess today," Raven spits out, sounding more nervous than Clarke has ever heard her.

"What the fuck! Why didn't they call me?! Oh my god..." Worst case scenario confirmed. "I'm on my way. We gotta find him."

She tells the other teachers that she has to leave, and they can all sense the panic in her voice.

She runs out to her car and drives out of the parking lot at a speed that could be considered quite dangerous.

Then it all comes to her. Makai's backpack being full, his sudden disinterest in everything, the way he waved to her as he got out of the car this morning... He's run away. Her heart is pounding and her mind is running a million miles a minute. This is every parent's worst nightmare and if she had the money for a good lawyer she would sue the shit out of his school for not calling her. For losing her son when she trusts them to keep him safe.

Why would he do this...

*****

Bellamy has just gotten home. He's reading through his mail when he hears a small knock on the door.

He opens it to see Makai standing on the other side, tears running down his cheeks but a smile on his face nonetheless.

"Makai, what are you doing here?" he asks, crouching down to be level with the boy.

"I wanted to go camping."

"Does your mom know you're here?" He wipes the tears from Makai's face and ushers him inside. The boy shakes his head.

"I don't want her to come. I hate her," Makai says, stomping his foot.

Bellamy sits on the couch and Makai sits next to him. "Hey, that's a pretty strong word."

"I know. And I mean it. I hate her."

"Why do you feel that way, Kai?"

"She wouldn't let me see you, or call you. She wouldn't even let me go over to Ellie's house because she thought you might be there. I miss you, Bellamy," he answers.

Bellamy takes a deep breath. Makai sets his backpack on the ground before launching himself into Bellamy's arms. Holding his son close to his chest, he blinks away the tears that form in his eyes. This kid thought he didn't have anywhere else to turn, so he came here. It simultaneously breaks and warms Bellamy's heart.

"Kai, how did you get here?" he asks.

"I ran."

"From where?"

"School."

Bellamy runs a hand down his face, "So no one knows where you are?"

Makai shakes his head.

"Kai, you cannot run away like this. I'm sure your mom is worried sick about you. Even if you hate her, she still loves you. I'm glad you came to me, but we have to call your mom," Bellamy tells him.

"But she'll be mad at me," Makai replies, sounding scared.

"Trust me, she will be happy you're ok." Bellamy pulls his phone from his pocket and clicks on Clarke's number.

"What Bellamy? I don't have time to talk right now," she snaps.

"You're looking for Makai?" he asks, monotonously.

"How did you-"

"He's here. With me. He's fine, he's safe. I guess he walked here on his own."

She starts crying, "Oh my god. Thank the lord he's ok. I'll be right over to get him."

She hangs up the phone and Bellamy turns to Makai, "Hey kid, you want some ice cream?"

\---

Clarke is banging down his door not even fifteen minutes later. Bellamy lets her in and she runs over to Makai to give him a hug. He pushes her away and returns his attention to his ice cream. Bellamy can tell she is trying not to look hurt by that.

"You gave him ice cream?" Clarke asks. Bellamy knows she's still a little frazzled.

"I figure I might as well steer into the skid, you know, me being irresponsible and all," Bellamy puts on his best and biggest smile.

"Bellamy..." she says, voice apologetic.

He's not having it. Bellamy is still angry. "Don't."

She sighs, wringing her hands together, "He misses you."

"He told me," Bellamy nods.

Clarke sinks down into his couch, burying her face in her hands. As he looks at her, he sees how much of a toll this has taken on her. He can feel his anger slipping away. He still loves Clarke, and he still wants to comfort her. Sitting beside her on the couch, he wraps his arm around her and runs his hand up and down her arm.

"I'm sorry, Bel," she tells him.

"It's ok, Princess. You were protecting your son."

"We should tell him, you were right," she says.

Bellamy shakes his head, taking Clarke's hand in his own, "I think we should be on better terms when we do."

"Bellamy... I feel terrible, about what I said to you. I was angry and being irrational and-"

"It's ok to be irrational sometimes. You're a mom, Princess." he reassures her.

"Well I am sorry. You're doing your best." She rests her head on his shoulder and looks over to Makai who is still slurping up his ice cream.

"You have my forgiveness, Princess," he says with a smile.

"Why don't we tell him that were dating, or confirm it," she laughs.

"Sounds like a plan."

"Makai, can you come over here?" Clarke asks. The boy sighs and walks over to sit in front of them on the ottoman.

"Am I in trouble?" he asks, looking from Bellamy to Clarke.

"No baby, you're not in trouble," Clarke tells him.

"Am I not allowed to see Bellamy anymore?"

Clarke laughs, "No you're going to be seeing him a lot. Do you remember when you asked if we were dating?" Makai nods. "Well, you were right."

Makai pumps his fist in the air, "I knew it!" Clarke and Bellamy both laugh.

"Yep, you were right Bud," Bellamy tells him with a smile.

Clarke tells Makai that he cannot run away like that ever again. He had her worried sick. Makai offers her an apology before giving her a hug.

\---

Everything went back to normal within a day. Bellamy came over for dinner that next night, Makai was talking to Clarke again, and everyone seemed happier.

Winter break came and Clarke sent Makai over to Octavia and Lincoln's for a couple of days. Mostly, her reasoning was that she wanted some alone time with Bellamy, but Makai also missed Ellie, so it would be good for them to hang out. Clarke smiles when she realizes that they are actually cousins, not just best friends.

Clarke and Makai have two weeks off for break, while Bellamy only has a few days, so they scheduled this sleepover accordingly.

Bellamy hates driving in the snow, but he really wants to get over to Clarke's house so he makes the sacrifice.

She opens the door to let him in and he sets two presents under the tree; one for Makai, and one for Clarke.

Their plan is to spend the days leading up to Christmas cuddled up together in Clarke's bed, then go to Octavia's for Christmas Day. The only downside is that they have too get up super early to make it to Octavia's before the kids wake up.

"I'm starving," Bellamy says, heading straight to the kitchen.

Clarke laughs, "It's three in the afternoon."

"Your point?"

Clarke follows him to the kitchen and sits on the counter when they get there. Bellamy gets himself a snack before going to stand in front of Clarke. They hear Buck barking and Bellamy sighs before letting him out into the backyard.

"Now back to our regularly scheduled snacking," Clarke snickers and Bellamy rolls his eyes.

"You are a regular laugh riot," Bellamy says sarcastically.

"Oh you know it," she smiles. "Hey I have something to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"Do you wanna move in with us?" she asks.

Bellamy pretends to weigh his options, Clarke hits him on the shoulder.

"I would love to. But I'll have to move in at the end of January because I have to pay last month's rent."

"That's fine. Gives us some time to tell Makai."

Bellamy is not shocked by Clarke question. His present would have forced them to move in together anyways. At least now he knows she's ready to take a big step in their relationship.

"What's that smirk for?" Clarke asks. Bellamy hadn't even realized he was doing it... He was just thinking about his present for Clarke, and a smirk appeared.

"Just thinking about how much I love you," he says. Nice save.

"Aw, you're cute," Clarke says as she places a kiss to his lips.

She tries to pull away, but Bellamy only pulls her back, smirking against her lips.

"Well geez we know why you wanted to come over here so bad," she jokes.

"Don't act like this isn't why you invited me over," he growls.

She squeals when he lifts her off the counter and she quickly wraps her legs around him. Her fingers tangle in his hair as she crashes her lips upon his. Walking briskly, he makes his way up the stairs to her (soon to be their) bedroom and lays her down on the bed.

Bellamy smirks when he sees Clarke biting her lip, "These next few days will be fun."

\---

Christmas Eve is upon them and Bellamy and Clarke may have a little too much egg nog in their systems, but they can both handle their alcohol quite well if you asked them.

They're sitting on the couch wrapped up in a blanket when Bellamy suddenly stands. Clarke whines about the absence of his body heat and he just shrugs. He walks over to the tree and grabs the present he wrapped for her.

"It's not time for presents, Bel," she reminds him when he sits back down. He hands her the gift and insists she open it.

"Trust me, this one is meant to be opened tonight," he tells her.

She looks at him skeptically before taking off the wrapping paper. Underneath is a small cardboard box. She opens that to find another gift wrapped box. "Seriously, Bel?" she asks. He just laughs. After rolling her eyes, she unwraps the second box, finding yet another cardboard box inside. "I swear to god, Bellamy-"

"Just open it."

She narrows her eyes at him before doing as he says.

In the cardboard box is a square, leather box. Clarke runs her finger along the top and looks to Bellamy. He nods, telling her to open it. When she does, she finds an engagement ring inside. The diamond is small, but the band has rubies because Clarke's absolute favorite color is red.

She stares at him with her mouth open like she is about to speak, but no words come out.

Bellamy smiles, "Princess, I know we have only been together a short time, but I have loved you for more than 18 years. Being with you, and Makai has shown me that I can't lose you guys. Yeah I am the guy that left, but I promise you I will never do that again. Clarke Griffin, will you marry me?"

"Of course, yes," she nods before throwing her arms around his neck.

When she pulls away from the bone-crushing hug, Bellamy slips the ring onto her finger.

"Kai knows, by the way," Bellamy tells her. "He helped me pick out the ring."

"Shut up! That kid can't keep a secret to save his life," Clarke laughs.

"Well he seemed pretty excited that I asked him to help."

Clarke smiles, "I'm glad." She looks down at her left hand, smile still on her face. "God it's gorgeous, Bellamy."

"I'm glad you like it."

"You do know what this means right?" she asks and he looks confused. "Engagement sex."

"I think I could be into that."

\---

Whoever thought waking up at four in the morning was a good idea, should go see Bellamy and Clarke. Those two would like to personally kick their ass.

Their alarm startles them from their sleep and they both groan before rolling out of bed. They put on the matching pajamas that Makai insisted they all get, and Clarke puts her hair into the perfect messy bun. After that, she puts on some makeup because she looks like hell and she knows Octavia will want to take as million pictures.

Bellamy loads the presents into his truck and they are off to his sister's.

They text Octavia when they're outside so they don't have to knock and risk waking the kids.

The bottom of the tree is already stuffed with presents. Most are wrapped in purple sparkly paper, Ellie's favorite. But some have soccer ball wrapping paper so Clarke assumes those are the ones Octavia and Lincoln got for Makai. They all help to carefully place the rest of the presents under the tree before grabbing the presents from Santa from the closet. Clarke kept Makai's gifts from Santa at Octavia's because she knows he's the kind of kid who looks around the house for the presents.

They finally get a moment to relax and drink some coffee when Octavia grabs Clarke's hand.

"What is this?!" she whispers.

"A ring," Clarke answers.

"Well I know that, dumbass." She turns to her brother, "You finally asked her?"

Bellamy and Clarke told everyone they were dating soon after telling Makai. Everyone was extremely excited and they feared Jasper might actually pass out.

Bellamy nods, "Yes baby sister, I sure did."

"Oh my god! This is so amazing! I'm sure Makai will be so excited," Octavia says.

"Apparently he already knows," Clarke whispers, giving a pointed look Bellamy's way.

"The kid was in on it?" Octavia asks, trying desperately hard to keep her voice at a whisper.

"He was. Helped me pick out the ring and everything," Bellamy says with a grin.

When the clock reads six, they all know the kids will be up soon. Octavia heads into the kitchen to start making the cinnamon rolls, and Bellamy starts on the bacon.

"Congratulations," Lincoln offers once he and Clarke are alone. "You know Octavia has been routing for the two of you."

"Yes, I know. That first night at dinner, obvious Octavia setup. It worked though."

"My wife, always seems to get what she wants..." Lincoln smiles.

"I've noticed." Clarke can't help but smile as well.

Soon they hear tiny footsteps running down the stairs and everyone gathers in the living room.

Makai runs to sit on Clarke's lap and rests his head on her shoulder.

"I'm tired," he says quietly.

"Hmm, let me guess, you're only up because you smelled bacon?"

"Yeah," he replies sheepishly. "And Ellie was knocking on my door."

"The Woods are morning people," Clarke whispers in his ear. This she has known for a long time. Octavia wakes up at the crack of dawn for fun, and Lincoln is just the same. So of course their daughter would be just like her parents.

"Gross," Makai says, making a face of disgust.

Clarke laughs as Bellamy comes into the room and sits next to her.

"Did you do it?" Makai asks him, his sleepiness gone and replaced with excitement.

Bellamy nods and Clarke holds up her left hand.

"Does this mean Bellamy is gonna be my dad?" Makai seems even more excited now. He looks between Clarke and Bellamy as they both freeze, unsure what to do.

"Yeah baby, it does," Clarke finally answers.

Makai smiles so wide that it's contagious. Ellie comes around to deliver everyone presents, setting each one in front of the correct person. By the time she's done, Bellamy is wondering how much stuff two ten year olds even need. They've both got the better part of a toy store sitting in front of them in colorfully wrapped paper.

Octavia yells 'go!' and everyone starts unwrapping.

Squeals can be heard from the two little ones as they discover what they've got. They both got matching nerf guns and spend the morning battling each other to see who is the better warrior. But when they hear breakfast is ready, they both drop their guns and run to the table.

Raven, Wick, and the rest of their friends come over around noon and Octavia is more than happy to share the engagement news. Makai is just as happy too, telling Raven about how awesome it will be when Bellamy becomes his dad.

Soon Jasper joins in on the nerf war, making the kids laugh when he pretends to die every time a dart hits him. Unfortunately Miller and Monty aren't in town for Christmas. They went to visit Miller's dad back east. But that doesn't stop Octavia from facetiming them to show off Clarke's ring.

After dinner, everyone heads home. Clarke and Bellamy put all of Makai's new toys into the truck before they all head off.

"I think Santa left your stocking at home, Kai," Clarke says, turning around from the passenger seat.

He perks up upon hearing that, "I told Ellie that but she didn't believe me. She told me he wouldn't know where I was since I wasn't at home."

"Well he knows. He got your presents there, didn't he?" Bellamy says.

Makai seems satisfied with that and goes back to his DS. Clarke looks to Bellamy and he can read her expression, he knows what she's trying to tell him. When they get home, they're telling Makai the truth. He nods and places his hand on her knee.

The rest of the drive is fairly quiet, except for the occasional 'yes!' from Makai when he beats a level.

They get back to the house and he runs inside to get his stocking.

"We've got this," Clarke says as she and Bellamy carry all the bags inside.

"Definitely. I'm sure we're making it seem worse in our own heads."

"Exactly, we saw how excited he was when he found out we were getting married."

They're both nervous. Makai could react very badly to this. He could get angry, he could reject all of this. Worst case scenarios play out in their heads as they walk inside and ask Makai to sit with them. They both take a deep breath.

"Makai we need to talk to you," Clarke says, grabbing his hands.

"About what?" he asks.

"Well, you remember how I told you about your seed guy? That he was your dad, but he wouldn't be around?" Makai nods. "Bellamy and I just found out that your seed guy is Bellamy."

"So Bellamy is my real dad?"

"Yeah, I am," Bellamy says with a small smile.

"And you guys didn't know?"

"Nope. We just found out, Bud," Bellamy replies.

Makai seems to be lost in thought, staring off into the distance.

"What do you think, Makai?" Clarke asks.

"This is cool! He'll be my dad because he's marrying you, and my dad because he's my seed guy."

She laughs, "So you're ok with this?"

He nods and leaps forward to hug them both.

"Can I look in my stocking now?" Makai asks.

"Of course, baby. Go ahead," Clarke tells him. He runs over to the spot on the floor where he's set his stocking and dumps it out, marveling at all the candy and goodies inside.

"That went better than expected," Bellamy whispers with a chuckle. Clarke smiles and rests her head on his shoulder.

\---

The wedding is set for the spring. March 15th to be exact.

Raven, Octavia, and Makai go with Clarke to pick out a dress for the big day.

After trying on five dresses that didn't work at all, they find the one. Octavia was a little bummed that Clarke didn't like the one she picked (it was a giant ball gown and Clarke shot it down right away after claiming Bellamy would make too many Princess jokes) but she's happy Clarke loves the dress she did choose. Her dress is a strapless A-line with beading under the bust.

"What do you think Kai? Will Bellamy like it?" Clarke asks her son.

He smiles, "You look beautiful momma, Bellamy will think so too."

\---

Makai's birthday is in February, and he decides to celebrate by going ice skating. The whole time Clarke is concentrated on not falling on her ass, but she smiles when she sees how much fun Makai is having.

Bellamy is already moved in and Makai couldn't be happier about it.

\---

On the day of the wedding, Clarke was in her hotel room getting Makai ready. He said he looks like James Bond in his tux and won't stop darting around the room using his finger as a pretend gun.

"Sit still, Kai," she tells him. "I need to tie your bow tie."

"I don't like this tie. I want a regular one," he protests.

"Well you have to match your father."

Just then, Raven comes into the room to get Makai, "You ready, best friend?" (That's what he and Raven call each other now).

"Momma is tying my tie," he responds.

"That dress looks great on you, Rae," Clarke tells her as she finishes with Makai's tie.

Clarke's bridesmaid dresses are soft pink, a color that looks astonishing on Raven. Raven's dress has spaghetti straps while Octavia's is strapless. Octavia wanted something to differentiate the two of them, seeing as Octavia is matron of honor and Raven is Clarke's bridesmaid.

Raven and Makai leave Clarke to get ready.

She starts with her hair, tying it up in a fancy up do she saw on Pinterest. After the tenth and final bobby pin holds her hair in place, she starts on her makeup. Clarke usually doesn't wear makeup, she thinks it takes too much time and she's not willing to get up any earlier to do it. It will be an interesting change for her to wear it today.

Once that is done, (and she must say her eyeliner is perfect) she puts on her dress. The zipper is easy enough to do herself. After she slips on her heels, she stands in front of the full length mirror to look at herself.

She certainly never thought this day would come. When Bellamy left she was sure that would be the last she saw of him. She thought it would be just her and Makai, and she thought she was fine with that. Now she realizes how great it is to have Bellamy with her. Makai loves his father and was so welcoming of him from the start. Clarke could not be more grateful for what she has.

Octavia knocks on the door before coming inside.

"Wow, you look amazing," she tells the bride.

"Thanks. Is it time?"

Octavia nods and extends her hand for Clarke to take.

If you asked Clarke about it, she would say her wedding day was one big blur. She remembers Bellamy's smile as she and Makai walked down the aisle, and she remembers their first dance, but everything else seemed to fade into a happy jumble of events and laughter.

Bellamy would say the same thing.

In the week that follows the wedding, Makai goes to Octavia and Lincoln's house to give the newlyweds some space. They don't really have the money to go anywhere fun for their honeymoon, so they decided to just stay home and relax, enjoying the seven days their jobs both have them off.

They're both still asleep when the doorbell rings.

"Geez were you two still asleep?" Octavia asks as Makai heads inside. "It's one in the afternoon..."

"In our defense we didn't go to sleep until after four in the morning," Bellamy yawns.

"Ew gross, you're my brother stop," Octavia says causing Clarke and Bellamy to laugh.

"Thanks for watching him this past week," Clarke says. "Two eleven year olds can be hard to handle."

"Oh they were fine, don't worry about it."

Octavia gives them both a hug before she leaves.

They hear Makai watching tv in the living room and go sit with him on the couch. Bellamy pulls him into his side and ruffles his hair. Makai then groans and complains about having to go back to school on Monday. It was smart of them to plan their week long honeymoon on spring break, well Makai's spring break. Clarke's is next week, and Bellamy already had his the week prior.

Sunday is lazy day. No one in the family gets out of their pajamas, and they all sit around watching tv all day. The boys somehow rope Clarke into playing video games with them and she’s surprisingly good. Not good enough to beat them, but she held her own.

The next morning, Clarke and Bellamy drive Makai to school. Clarke shook Bellamy awake saying if she had to be awake, so did he.

Bellamy goes to work soon after he and Clarke get home.

And so becomes their routine. Clarke and Bellamy both take Makai to school before they go back home to get ready themselves.

A month goes by and the Blake-Griffin family is like a well oiled machine.

Clarke has to take a few days off of work because she has the stomach flu, and Makai is such a great little nurse. He brings her juice and crackers and loves looking like his grandma while he wears a surgical mask.

After three days, she doesn’t think it’s the flu anymore. That’s the same day she realizes the sensitivity to certain smells.

She heads to the hospital and goes straight to her mother’s office. It doesn’t take too long for her mom to appear in the doorway of her office.

“Clarke! What are you doing here?” Abby asks as Clarke stands to hug her.

“Mom I need you to give me a blood test.”

Abby looks confused, “Why sweetheart? Is something the matter?”

“I think I might be pregnant,” Clarke tells her.

“Again?” she asks, voice full of hopefulness and excitement.

“Yep...”

Abby smiles and takes Clarke hands. She leads her to an exam room and draws some blood from her arm. Once she’s sent the blood away for the tests, they head back to Abby’s office to wait.

“Have you told Bellamy?” her mother asks.

“Not yet. I thought I might be and headed straight over here,” Clarke tells her.

“I am honored that you came to me, Clarke.”

“We thought I had the stomach flu so Makai got a surgical mask. He was so excited to be like his grandma,” Clarke smiles at the memory.

“Bring him over one weekend. I’d love to spend some more time with him.”

“Can do, mom.”

Abby’s pager beeps and she stands, telling Clarke she will be right back with the blood test results. Bellamy then texts Clarke asking how she’s feeling. She knows what he’s doing. If she’s feeling shitty, he will come home for lunch to be with her. And if she’s feeling better, he’ll stay at work. She texts him back to let him know that she’s feeling pretty good. It’s the truth, and she doesn’t want him to leave work for her.

Her mother comes back into the small room with a packet of paper in her hands. She hands it to Clarke and explains to her what everything means and what to look for.

“So what does it say?” Clarke asks, staring down at the paper.

“It says you’re pregnant, Clarke.”

Clarke takes a deep breath, “Wow... Another kid...”

“You always said you wanted a sibling, now you can give that to Kai.”

Clarke smiles a small smile, “That’s a good way to think of it.”

“I think you should go home and wait for Bellamy,” Abby offers.

“Yeah... Thanks mom.”

They both stand and Clarke hugs her mother. After saying their goodbyes and one last request from Abby to spend more time with her grandson, Clarke heads home to wait for Bellamy to be done with work.

\---

Clarke hears the front door open from her spot on their bed. She takes a deep breath as she hears Bellamy stomping up the stairs, preparing herself for this conversation.

"Hey, Princess," he says, kissing her on the forehead. He sits on his side of the bed and plugs in his phone to charge.

"Bel?"

"Yeah?"

"We have something to talk about," she grabs his hand and gives him a half smile. She is still unsure of how she feels about this at this point.

"What is it?" he asks quickly, concern filling his voice.

"I went to see my mom today, and she did a blood test..." she looks down to her lap before flicking her gaze back up to Bellamy. "I'm pregnant, Bel."

"Are you serious?" he asks with a wide smile.

"Won't this be awkward? I mean we have an eleven year old, and now we'll have a newborn too..."

"Everything will be just fine, Clarke. Kai will love having a little sibling."

"We're not too old for this? I mean I'm 36, I'll be 37 when this baby is born... You'll be 39!"

He puts his hand on his chest and gives her a wounded expression, "Don't talk about my age, Princess."

"Can we do this, Bellamy?"

"You did this by yourself with Makai, of course we can do this together. There's no doubt in my mind."

"So you're ready to celebrate your 40th birthday the same year as this baby's first?" she laughs.

"You're killing me, Princess."

"Should we tell Makai? You don't think he'll tell everyone do you?" Clarke asks.

Bellamy shrugs his shoulders, "He kept the engagement secret..."

Clarke takes another deep breath, "Then we tell him when we pick him up from school. We'll get him some ice cream to sweeten the deal."

"You want ice cream, don't you?"

She nods and he laughs.

Clarke changes out of her sweats and they go pick up Makai together. He is so excited when he gets in the car, he wants to tell them all about his day. They drive to a Dairy Queen down the street from the school and all get a blizzard.

"Hey Kai," Clarke begins. "You wanna hear something cool?"

He nods, "Yeah!"

"Momma has a baby in her tummy," she says as he takes a bite of Oreo.

"You're going to have a baby brother or sister," Bellamy adds.

"I could have a baby sister like you have, dad?" Makai's face lights up.

"Yeah, that's right! You could," Bellamy smiles and takes a bite of his ice cream. "Are you going to be momma's nurse again and help her out while she's pregnant?"

"She'll need help? Doing what?"

Clarke covers up her laugh with a spoonful of ice cream. Now that they think about it, Makai has never been around a pregnant woman. This will be a new experience for him.

"Well you can come with me to get her snacks when she needs them," Bellamy suggests.

Makai smiles, "I can do that!"

"You'll be an awesome big brother," Clarke says, giving her son a fist bump.

\---

Clarke's been through all of this before. She's a pro as far as she's concerned. Between the doctors appointments and her new eating habits, she's got this down.

Bellamy, on the other hand, does not. It makes Clarke feel lighter, happier when she sees Bellamy's smile at her first ultrasound. It makes her laugh when he worries about every little pain she has and discomfort she experiences. Her favorite thing to do is wake him up in the middle of the night saying she has some craving when really it could wait for a more reasonable hour. The way his groggy expression so suddenly transforms to one of worry, then to one of determination is too funny for her not to trick him.

She's glad when her cravings die down, but she still cannot stop eating Salted Nut Rolls. They're just too good. Bellamy was only able to find them at a gas station about a half mile from their house. He and Makai make a workout out of it, putting on their tennis shoes and jogging to get the candy.

Makai is probably the most excited when they find out it's a girl. He wants to be just like his dad and Clarke thinks that is just adorable.

When she starts getting big, Clarke and Bellamy start talking names. They both agree that not just anything can accompany Makai. For instance; Bellamy and Octavia sound great together.

Once they pick a name, they decide to tell no one. At least until she's born.

Raven and Octavia plan Clarke's baby shower since Clarke is still working. Clarke thought it was rather tacky to have a second baby shower, but she relented when Octavia pointed out that she and Bellamy had very little baby stuff. If any.

The friends were rather generous with their gifts, and even Ellie made the baby a tie dye onesie.

Bellamy starts getting excited when Clarke passed her due date.

"I told you, she's coming on my birthday," he gloats.

"You've got three days, mister. You haven't won yet," Clarke retorts.

"What? Why don't you want her to born on my birthday?"

"I want her to get out as soon as possible. She's not paying rent in there, her eviction is in two weeks."

"What?" Bellamy asks.

"If a baby is two weeks past the due date, doctors induce."

"Oh hell no, she is going to be born on my birthday."

Clarke pats him on the chest, "Keep thinking that babe."

Bellamy's birthday party is the night before his actual birthday. All their friends came over for cake and to joke about how old Bellamy is. He tries to defend himself by saying Miller is the same age, but Miller shoots back that he is still 38.

Bellamy doesn't notice the way Octavia keeps checking her watch. Or the way she keeps looking to Clarke. And he certainly doesn't notice the way Clarke's face contorts in pain every now and then. Clarke doesn't blame him, it's his birthday party he gets a night off. Luckily her best friend is there to take his place for the time being.

"Alright dumbass it's time for you to take over," Octavia says as she stands and pats Bellamy on the shoulder. "I did this the last time around."

Bellamy looks confused for a moment before it all clicks in his head. He rushes over to Clarke who is already trying (and failing) to stand on her own. Everyone else soon catches on to what's going on. Octavia tells them that she's got Makai, which has been the plan since the beginning of the pregnancy. Raven throws Bellamy Clarke's keys (because her car has the car seat installed) and they make their way to the garage.

They see everyone else's cars following them to the hospital. Clarke told them that they really didn't have to do that, but they all insisted that they be there when the baby is born.

It takes much less time than it did with Makai. He was an 19 hour labor that had Octavia fearing for her own safety seeing as she was to give birth in just a few months. This beautiful baby girl, with her brown eyes and bleach blonde hair that Clarke assures Bellamy will grow darker as she ages, came in only 14 hours.  

Kennedy Louise joins the family at 11:31am on her daddy's birthday.

Makai comes in first, wide eyes and curious. He gazes down at his baby sister with a joy that neither Clarke nor Bellamy have ever seen.

Octavia and Lincoln come in to the room next and Octavia can't stop smiling at the tiny tiny baby. Raven immediately nicknames her 'Kenny Lou' when she comes to see her goddaughter and Clarke thinks it will probably stick. Monty looks at Kennedy like she is the most precious thing in the world, and to Clarke and Bellamy she is. Miller actually cracks a smile which has Bellamy amazed, the man is the most stoic person he's ever met. Jasper and Maya are the last to venture in and Clarke is almost asleep by the time they leave the room.

Bellamy tells her to rest while he holds Kennedy.

Honestly, he feels terrible that he missed so much of his son's life. He's come to turns with it however, knowing there was nothing he really could have done differently. He loves every moment with Makai. He is smart and funny and full of energy. He is also stubborn like his parents and shares Bellamy's love of ice cream. He can't wait to get to know his daughter. It's amazing, the love he feels for his kids. As soon as he realized that Makai was his, the love was there. The pride was there. And after that first kick, he already loved Kennedy. As she sleeps in his arms, he knows this is how his life was supposed to be. Sure, there was ten years filled with uncertainty and pain, but now he had a lifetime of joy and love. He had two kids who are amazing and wonderful and much more than he could have ever asked for. He has an amazing wife who loves him and forgave him for what he did.

Everything seemed to fall into place.

 

 


End file.
